Good Answer! Responding to Customer Compliments

If your front line customer service staff is doing everything right, then they will likely receive customer compliments. Woo HOO!

What a customer service representative says in response to a compliment may be as important as what they did to receive the compliment. Just this week I was visiting a local restaurant for a quick lunch. It is the type of place where you order at the counter, get a number and then go sit at your table to wait for your order to be delivered. This restaurant had so many great things on the menu in front of me that I couldn’t make an instant decision and asked multiple questions. (I would not have done this if there was anyone waiting in line behind me… I can’t stand people who do that!)

The young lady helping me not only answered the questions but made recommendations based on my responses. As I finally placed my order for ‘Catfish Lafitte‘ (are you hungry now?!), I apologized for giving them the Spanish Inquisition. Her reply was a big smile and a “That’s what we are here for!” I wanted to shout ‘GOOD ANSWER!‘ like Steve Harvey on Family Feud!

She is exactly RIGHT—that IS what they are there for. If her expertise in their menu was not needed, I could just have done some sort of automated order! Her kind response really hit me on another level… it was the marked contrast between her attitude and reply and those of countless others where they gave the impression that serving the customer was one big irritation. When a customer sees that you are delighted to help, their brain is already registering a desire to COME BACK. So Shane’s on Youree Drive, I will be back soon—probably with a lot more questions!

How are you training staff to respond to compliments? I would love to hear how you maximize this great opportunity for building relationships with customers!